TED talks

Gymglish

This site is subscription only but you can try it for free for 30 days.

They offer a top quality course which allows you to practise all the skills.

It’s an original fun interactive course based on the idea that daily practise is the best way to learn a language. Each lesson only takes 10 or 15 minutes to complete so it’s ideal for those who don’t have a lot of time but need to keep improving their Ënglish.

Coursera

This platform allows you to sign up for university courses all around the world. There’s a huge variety of courses available mostly running for about 6 weeks or so. They are generally video based (usually with the option of subtitles in English) so it’s another excellent way to hone your listening skills and build vocabulary. You can kill two birds with one stone: learn about a subject which interests you and improve your English at the same time.

BBC radio 4

Here you can find lots of podcasts on all kinds of interesting topics.

No matter what your level, listening to the radio helps your ear get used to the music of the language. You can listen while sitting on the train, while you’re driving to work or while cooking the dinner.

Books

Reading in English is fantastic way to build your vocabulary. The Golden rule is to read the kinds of thing you’d read in your own language. If you prefer non-fiction you could read autobiograhies or magazines which specialise in a hobby you have.
And if you like fiction, then the sky’s the limit. Novels and plays are a rich source of vocabulary and an excellent way to improve your English. Here are some good ones to get you started.

Animal Farm – George Orwell

When the downtrodden animals of Manor Farm overthrow their master Mr Jones and take over the farm themselves, they imagine it is the beginning of a life of freedom and equality. But gradually a cunning, ruthless élite among them, masterminded by the pigs Napoleon and Snowball, starts to take control. Soon the other animals discover that they are not all as equal as they thought, and find themselves hopelessly ensnared as one form of tyranny is replaced with another..

1984 - George Orwell

Hidden away in the Record Department of the sprawling Ministry of Truth, Winston Smith skilfully rewrites the past to suit the needs of the Party. Yet he inwardly rebels against the totalitarian world he lives in, which demands absolute obedience and controls him through the all-seeing telescreens and the watchful eye of Big Brother, symbolic head of the Party. In his longing for truth and liberty, Smith begins a secret love affair with a fellow-worker Julia, but soon discovers the true price of freedom is betrayal.

To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee

A lawyer’s advice to his children as he defends the real mockingbird of Harper Lee’s classic novel – a black man charged with the rape of a white girl. Through the young eyes of Scout and Jem Finch, Harper Lee explores with exuberant humour the irrationality of adult attitudes to race and class in the Deep South of the 1930s. The conscience of a town steeped in prejudice, violence and hypocrisy is pricked by the stamina of one man’s struggle for justice. But the weight of history will only tolerate so much.

Tales of the Unexpected - Roald Dahl

Take a pinch of unease. Stir it into a large dollop of the macabre, add a generous helping of dark and stylish wit, garnish with the bizarre and what do you have? Roald Dahl at his brilliant, hypnotizing best, cooking up some of the most unusual stories ever told. Here in one volume are Tales of the Unexpected and More Tales of the Unexpected, making this a superb compendium of vengeance, surprise and dark delight.

The fault in our stars – John Green

Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel’s story is about to be completely rewritten.

Insightful, bold, irreverent, and raw,The Fault in Our Starsis award-winning author John Green’s most ambitious and heartbreaking work yet, brilliantly exploring the funny, thrilling, and tragic business of being alive and in love.

46 Brilliant Short Novels You Can Read In A Day

TV series

Breaking Bad

When chemistry teacher Walter White is diagnosed with Stage III cancer and given only two years to live, he decides he has nothing to lose. He lives with his teenage son, who has cerebral palsy, and his wife, in New Mexico. Determined to ensure that his family will have a secure future, Walt embarks on a career of drugs and crime. He proves to be remarkably proficient in this new world as he begins manufacturing and selling methamphetamine with one of his former students. The series tracks the impacts of a fatal diagnosis on a regular, hard working man, and explores how a fatal diagnosis affects his morality and transforms him into a major player of the drug trade.

The Sopranos

An innovative look at the life of fictional Mafia Capo Tony Soprano, this serial is presented largely first person, but additional perspective is conveyed by the intimate conversations Tony has with his psychotherapist. We see Tony at work, at home, and in therapy. Moments of black comedy intersperse this aggressive, adult drama, with adult language, and extreme violence.

The Wire

Set in Baltimore, this show centers around the city’s inner-city drug scene. It starts as mid-level drug dealer, D’Angelo Barksdale beats a murder rap. After a conversation with a judge, Det. James McNulty has been assigned to lead a joint homicide and narcotics team, in order to bring down drug kingpin Avon Barksdale. Avon Barksdale, accompanied by his right-hand man Stringer Bell, enforcer Wee-Bey and many lieutenants (including his own nephew, D’Angelo Barksdale), has to deal with law enforcement, informants in his own camp, and competition with a local rival, Omar, who’s been robbing Barksdale’s dealers and reselling the drugs. The supervisor of the investigation, Lt. Cedric Daniels, has to deal with his own problems, such as a corrupt bureaucracy, some of his detectives beating suspects, hard-headed but determined Det. McNulty, and a blackmailing deputy. The show depicts the lives of every part of the drug “food chain”, from junkies to dealers, and from cops to politicians.

Game of Thrones

Nine noble families fight for control of the mythical land of Westeros. Political and sexual intrigue is pervasive. Robert Baratheon, King of Westeros, asks his old friend Eddard, Lord Stark, to serve as Hand of the King, or highest official. Secretly warned that the previous Hand was assassinated, Eddard accepts in order of business to investigate further. Meanwhile the Queen’s family, the Lannisters, may be hatching a plot to take power. Across the sea, the last members of the previous and deposed ruling family, the Targaryens, are also scheming to regain the throne. The friction between the houses Stark, Lannister, Baratheon and Targaryen and with the remaining great houses Greyjoy, Tully, Arryn, Tyrell and Martell leads to full-scale war. All while a very ancient evil awakens in the farthest north. Amidst the war and political confusion, a neglected military order of misfits, the Night’s Watch, is all that stands between the realms of men and icy horrors beyond.

House of Cards American versión with Kevin Spacey

Majority House Whip Francis Underwood takes you on a long journey as he exacts his vengeance on those he feels wronged him – that is, his own cabinet members including the President of the United States himself. Dashing, cunning, methodical and vicious, Frank Underwood along with his equally manipulative yet ambiguous wife, Claire take Washington by storm through climbing the hierarchical ladder to power in this Americanized recreation of the BBC series of the same name.

House of Cards British versión (less famous and fewer episodes but very interesting)

Francis Urquhart is the chief whip of the Conservative party. When Margaret Thatcher resigns as leader, he remains neutral and after a general election where the conservatives are returned with a reduced majority, he fully expects the new Prime Minister, Henry Collingridge, to give him his just reward: a senior Cabinet post. When he’s informed that he is to stay in his current position, he devises a plot to unseat Collingridge and ensure his own election as party leader which would make him Prime Minister.

Fawlty Towers (an old BBC classic)

nept and manic English hotel owner and manager, Basil Fawlty, isn’t cut out for his job. He’s intolerant, rude and paranoid. All hell frequently breaks loose as Basil tries to run the hotel, constantly under verbal (and sometime physical) attack from his unhelpful wife Sybil, and hindered by the incompetent, but easy target, Manuel; their Spanish waiter.